To dance is to put poetry into movement

I have my autumn feet ready to seek out adventure
In a season of brisk winds that chill fingertips,
Frosty-nosed nights spent huddled beside a crackling fire,
Days wrapped up inside a thick, warm blanket
Gently grasping a steaming mug of hot tea.
Where calendar weeks are filled with
The steady rapping of raindrops on windows,
apples grappled from trees to make grandmothers’ famous pie,
and friends gathering to wander down endless rows of corn.
My autumn feet are ready to explore,
They are ready to adventure.

I have lost
Breath
In moments pushed too fast
Too far
The rush caught me in its arms
And In it I have lost
Breath

Aspens tall remind me
of water deep
And coaxing in times when
I could walk strong
with grounded roots spreading
From
My soles into rich deep earth
Remind me
What it is to be one
With this beautiful
Land
Remind me how to
Breathe

I still miss you
Even though I know I shouldn't
Your smile haunts me
Every time I turn the radio on

My brother asked me why
Some hours late after work
I sit in the cooling car, stars scattered like starbursts above
and let soft notes
Drift out from the cracks in the
Frame and I do not tell him
It is because I find you
In late night songs played dull and lonely
I find you in the drifting melodies
That hold my heavy head
And heart space where the beats echo
Faintly because there is only
Emptiness left
I find you in lyrics written by artists who have been broken in the same way
Only into different pieces.
I do not tell him it is my moment of weakness
Of loss
Of anger
Of hurt

I do not tell him
It is my way of letting you go
Each tear a memory released
Each note a whispered kiss blown
To the autumn wind
Each verse the broken promises turned to dust for the shadows to eat
Each song my way of moving on

I do not tell him
I just listen until dawn

love is not
a thing
that gives
choices,
it just arrives,
takes you
destroys you.

it has done
nothing but
make a fool
out of me.

knocking me over,
gripping my
cold wretched heart
without mercy.

making me
irrational,
fierce,
defensive,
determined.

unable to
break the spell,
paralyzed by
absolutely ludicrous
beliefs.

-

i deleted all
the music
off my phone
because
storage was
scarce.

but in the dark,
in the rain,
cruising,
comes
sad song playlist
all by itself,
unsummoned,
pushed from
the clouds
back into
my mind,

my chest,
where i feel a
sudden tightening,
a deep,
wrenching
pain.

so i sit
in the driveway
and let it finish,

let the sadness
roll right
into me,
and eyes closed,
tearless,
i dreamt of you.